University of Virginia Library

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181

At the Sign of the Ship

Ballade Introductory

What men collect, what men debate,
What Bain has bought, or Christie sold,
Whatever serves to illustrate
The fashions of the days of old;
How Cambridge pulled, how Oxford bowled,
Wild lore of races white or black;
Of these shall many a tale be told
In this our Stall of Bric-a-brac!

Strange wrecks from rarest books that fate
Hath hardly saved from moth and mould;
Quaint traits of manner, old or late,
Of cloth of frieze, and cloth of gold,
Faint echoes that the ages cold
To our warm age send ringing back,
We gather all, we all enfold
In this our Stall of Bric-a-brac.

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182

Tales of the Church, and of the State,
Of how men prayed—and how they polled—
We tell; and talk of flies, and bait,
And ancient missals golden-scrolled;
And here, perchance, shall songs be trolled—
Of holidays, when work is slack—
We shall do everything—but scold
In this our Stall of Bric-a-brac.